Mesa Mayor Scott Smith: Bright future if city stays focused

Several years ago during a public appearance, Councilman Dave Richins told an audience that Mesa — Mesa, of all places — was enjoying a new vibe from its “rock-star mayor.”

By then, Scott Smith already had shaken, rattled and rolled Mesa to its core, streamlining City Hall and pushing the city to assume what he saw as its rightful place of regional leadership.

Richins’ description seemed more apt than ever this week, however, when Smith hosted what was likely his final State of the City breakfast at the Mesa Convention Center.

With loudspeakers all but shattering to the strains of AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Smith waved and shook hands as he strode from the back of the room to the smoke-shrouded stage, which looked like more of a setting for Bruno Mars than for a politician.

The 600-plus in attendance Feb. 4 knew Smith probably wouldn’t break new ground this year, as he did when rolling out high-profile programs in years past. He’ll leave that to his successors.

Instead, as expected, Smith spent most of his hourlong speech recounting his nearly six years in office — a stroll down memory lane that brought him to tears near the end.

And, as expected, he used that record as the premise for his gubernatorial campaign, which in the August primary will pit him against several other Republicans, some with statewide name recognition.

“I hope that at the state level we can maybe elect a governor who will do the same thing” that he has accomplished in Mesa, he said.

In a way, however, it was the same speech as the one he gave in the same building during his first breakfast meeting as mayor. In July 2008, he challenged Mesa’s leaders to pour their hearts, muscle and money into the city.

“Be loyal to your community,” Smith said then, adding that energizing the city would require not just a governmental but a community effort.

To a degree, he said this week, Mesa has succeeded — largely because it focused on key economic-development areas embraced by the HEAT acronym: health care, education, aerospace, tourism and technology.

Smith made certain to credit the six other council members, each of whom was represented by a large banner in the convention hall featuring his name and key attractions in his district.

He also thanked past Mesa leaders and city staff, singling out City Manager Chris Brady.

For one thing, Mesa continues to struggle with fallout from the Great Recession. Tax revenues still have not recovered to prerecession levels, and Smith said many Mesa residents remain unemployed or under-employed.

Further, he said, if Mesa fails to maintain its momentum it will lose out to other, more aggressive cities and regions. And he noted that major projects undertaken during his term remain unfinished.

“Two, three, five years from now, I still envision tens of thousands of people coming to Cubs field and Riverview Park with a Wrigleyville West fully developed out,” he said.

And then, sounding a bit like the prophetic Sydney Carton in the last scene of “A Tale of Two Cities,” Smith waxed rosy about what else is to come:

“I see a light rail coming through a reinvigorated downtown that is a destination with literally hundreds, if not thousands of college students in Mesa. New residences. People living there. Downtown Mesa will be one of the great places to live in our state.

“I see Gateway airport expanding service and being able to literally fly almost anywhere in the world right out Gateway.

“I see Apple being the first of many companies coming in and creating, around Gateway and Eastmark, a center of growth and of quality jobs and thousands of jobs.

“I see our educational system transformed.

“This is our potential. This is our future. These are the things we have to dream about.”

Tending to all that will be the job of Smith’s successors, the first of whom will be current Vice Mayor Alex Finter.

Finter will become mayor pro tem upon Smith’s resignation, and the council will appoint a temporary successor to represent Finter’s District 2 in south-central Mesa while he serves as mayor.

In January 2015, a new mayor, to be elected in a special election this year, will take office and Finter will reclaim his council seat for another two years.

Finter and four other current council members have endorsed former Vice Mayor John Giles, the only announced mayoral candidate to date.

Only one political scenario would obviate Smith’s gubernatorial candidacy and leave Mesa’s current leadership in place for the next 11 months: Smith has said if Gov. Jan Brewer seeks re-election, he will not run.

Brewer has said she might challenge the widely held interpretation that Arizona’s Constitution prevents her from seeking her second full elected term; she first took office in 2009 when Gov. Janet Napolitano became homeland security secretary in Washington.

It was perhaps with that caveat in mind that Smith avoided complete finality in Tuesday’s address.

“I am very confident that if this is my last State of the City, that those who are left and this community will go on,” he said.

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